India, Sept. 22 -- What India serves its guests at official tables has drawn fresh interest since the all-vegetarian fare at the Brics Summit this month triggered controversy. A new book on prime ministers' tables shows the menu has reflected each leader's tastes and politics since Jawaharlal Nehru began to Indianise state banquets in the late 1940s.

"Why cannot you give them biryani?" Indira Gandhi asked when a turkey roast appeared on the draft menu for the 1983 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), recalls chef Sudhir Sibal in the book. The kitchen obliged.

Journalists Purabi Shridhar and Sanghita Singh's 'The Prime Minister's Table: Delicacies and Diplomacies from the Era of Nehru to Modi' draws on over seven years of in...